COMPANION: Come Sail with Us!

Please join us in the Insight Cruises community. We’ve been providing cruise group events since 2000. An InsightCruise is a delightful, vibrant event  among real, involved, diverse, interesting people. As you consider the invitation to accompany your spouse on an Insight Cruise, we have a few questions for you:

Tired of the fast lane? Immerse yourself in the slow lane for a week  a healthy escape to an oasis of well-being, loved ones, memorable experiences. Your Insight Cruise simplifies vacation. Forget hassle. We can arrange airfare, and pre- and post-cruise hotels for you. We can even help you arrange to have your luggage shipped directly from your foyer to your stateroom, and back home again.

Looking to escape the pressures of every day? Lower your stress level. Raise your spirits. Insight Cruises is a cruise specialist  we study and sweat the details, so you can just … chill. Whether your definition of “unwind” means high-energy recreation or quiet time to listen to your spirit, introversion or extroversion, you’ll find your niche on an Insight Cruise.

Like an easy answer to the eternal question “What’s for dinner”? On your InsightCruise dozens of trained professionals work on that critical question while you relax. You do have decisions to make:1) Would you like to eat with the Insight Cruises community in the Dining Room? We initially sit at tables grouped by potential shared qualities, and then you’re free to table hop and do your own thing.2) Looking for an intimate moment with your special someone or family? You can schedule a quiet, luxurious meal in the elegant Pinnacle Grill3) Action packed, high-energy day? Visit the Lido Buffet for wide choice, healthy fare, and casual dining.4) Or do you want a quiet dinner on your own verandah? Excellent room service is just a one-button click away!

Ready for a little pampering? You’ve earned it. Lounge by the pool. Linger over a good cup of coffee. Visit the spa and choose from relaxing, restorative, and revitalizing services. Take excursions designed to enrich your days and make memories. A cruise is full of creature comforts and thoughtful features that nurture your body, mind, and soul.

A little romance, perhaps? Luxurious surroundings and natural beauty remind us of life’s pleasures. Fine dining, sunsets, and cozy corners warm the spirit. A cruise is a lovely place for couples …

Is it time to celebrate, or to simply gather family and friends and cherish the moment? On an Insight Cruise, you have a balance of time together, and time to pursue individual interest. You’ll meet multi-generational groups, extended families, and groups of friends having a great time on their Insight Cruise.

Come along with us. You’ll be joining a group of people who share interests, experience, new ideas, and good laughs. People who have rich, grounded, complicated lives  like you!

Neil Bauman and Theresa Mazich, M.D. are co-founders of Insight Cruises. They are firm believers that education and travel foster personal growth and creativity that inspires one to work toward the world’s well being.

OUR INSPIRATION!

Have you ever fallen asleep during a conference in a convention center or hotel? Theresa, relentless defender of decorum, has. Neil, staunch supporter of lifelong learning, has. And out of those slumbers, the Insight Cruises concept emerged: a vital, engaging learning community at sea, with opportunities for exploration and adventure in port. We all have travels in common: the quest for knowledge, the search for inspiration, the hunger for new ideas and information. And we all like to relax, in our own ways. Neil Bauman and Theresa Mazich aimed to create an experience where left and right sides of the brain vacation together.

Insight Cruises was founded in 1999, and its maiden voyage, Perl Whirl, sailed in May 2000. Since Perl Whirl, guests who value learning for its own sake have gathered on over 70 cruise conferences. Our clients have taught us that while sometimes it’s about going deeper and higher, and sometimes it’s about pursuing confidence in and mastery of a discipline, it’s always about discovery and self-discovery.

When we’re not at sea, members of the Insight Cruises team are behind the scenes dotting “i”s and crossing “t”s, working toward a hassle-free Insight Cruise experience for you.

Neil is the CEO of Insight Cruises. He had an "Aha!" moment while reading a Perl programming book on a cruise ship in Alaska in June 1998. Neil founded Insight Cruises one year later.

Insight Cruises taps the growing worldwide demand for adult education that encompasses knowledge acquisition and relaxation. Neil applied his rare blend of expertise in business strategy, business development and partnerships, operational innovation and publishing, and his creative strengths to develop Insight Cruises and its events.

For eighteen years prior to founding Insight Cruises, Neil was co-founder and President of ComputerTalk Associates, Inc, a publisher of trade magazines in vertical markets in healthcare.

More to the point, Neil’s inexorable affinity for computing devices and commerce surfaced at the age of 4, when he learned to use his maternal grandparents’ abacus.

Around this time, Neil also learned to play chess. Ten years later, in 1969 he joined the Manhattan Chess Club and was honored, shortly thereafter, to have one of his games published in The New York Times. In 1971, Neil defeated RCA’s David Sarnoff Research Center’s mainframe computer in a game of chess — the first person to do so at the RCA Center.

This experience — melding technology and chess — fueled Neil’s interest in computers which led to his purchase of an HP-65 the following year, while a junior in high school. At the same time, Neil was laying the groundwork for his computer knowledge learning programming on a PDP-10 at Rider College in Lawrenceville, NJ. Efficiently and effectively, Neil used his first few semesters at college to dispel any parental illusions about a career in medicine, and proceeded to expand his collection of punch cards while building a text editor and an IBM 360 assembler.

The first DOS-based computer Neil owned was a DEC Rainbow, which is probably still running, somewhere. He became a Macintosh owner in 1986, and has since established an operating minimum of 1.75 Macintosh computers per human family member.

Neil has become widely known for “Neil’s Law” which states that the potential loss of computer functionality is the only situation in which a discussion of “What If?” scenarios is permitted.

He credits his love of travel to his abacus-owning grandparents who, by the time Neil was 10, had flown over 500,000 miles.

Mr. Bauman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics from Franklin and Marshall College (1978). He was born in Riverdale, Bronx, New York in January 1955. Neil and his wife, Theresa, a nerd herself, have two children.

Theresa Mazich is Commodore and COO of Insight Cruises. Too many sleepy afternoon continuing education lectures; windowless, anonymous hotel meeting rooms; and schedules without a break to enjoy the host city convinced her that interactive education in beautiful places could solve a widespread problem. At about the same time, Neil Bauman reached a similar conclusion, and soon afterward coincidentally discovered the pleasure of cruising. A business concept soon followed.

Insight Cruises taps the growing worldwide demand for adult education that encompasses knowledge acquisition, a global outlook, and relaxation. Theresa brings diverse experience and perspectives rooted in her native profession, health care, and, well, her background as a nerd. Prior to founding Insight Cruises, Theresa practiced medicine as a board-certified dermatologist, and actively studied medical computing. She set aside clinical practice and applied her knowledge and experience as a physician for 10 years working in medical computing, developing, marketing, and selling healthcare software and databases in domestic and international markets.

Theresa credits her love of learning to the value her parents placed on reading and being well informed. Her enjoyment of travel grew out of the countless childhood hours she spent reading travel picture books borrowed from the Thomas Beaver Public Library in Danville, Pennsylvania, and her great-great-Aunt Nell’s insistence that Theresa visit Havana someday.

Wilkes University granted Theresa a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Sciences, and she earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from Hahnemann Medical College (now Drexel University College of Medicine) in Philadelphia. She is licensed to practice medicine in Pennsylvania. Theresa and her husband Neil have two children.

Click the Tabs for additional information.

Whether or not you live in California (which is regarded as having the strongest consumer protection laws in the USA), California State law protects you in your travel arrangements with Insight Cruises. International Technology Conferences, Inc. doing business as “Insight Cruises” is registered with the California Attorney General’s office of the California Department of Justice. (Registration as a seller of travel does not constitute approval by the State of California.) The California Department of Justice has identifying information on the owners of Insight Cruises, our relationship with cruiselines, and access to the International Technology Conferences’ bank trust account (which the California Seller of Travel law requires). International Technology Conferences’ registration, which we renew every September, is #2065380-40. The California Attorney General’s Seller of Travel FAQs are here: http://ag.ca.gov/travel/faqs.htm.

And if you are a resident of California, when you do business with a registered California Seller of Travel, you can file claims with the “Travel Consumer Restitution Corporation” (or “TCRC”) in cases of wrongful taking of money, bankruptcy filing, or closure of business. The TCRC, a nonprofit organization, was created to review claims and administer the Travel Consumer Restitution Fund. You can get the details at: www.ag.ca.gov/travel/consumer.htm.

How does California Seller of Travel law keep you safe? The Seller of Travel Act protects you several ways. It requires:

Businesses that sell travel to register with the California Attorney General.

Automatic Refunds for event cancellations not in accord with your contract

Written disclosures from Insight Cruises at the time you make a payment to us. For example, when you book your cruise online, you read and agree to the content of the "Book Now" page on the Insight Cruises website, which tells about our payment and cancellation policies, and gives information about insurance options, refunds, and travel changes. After you book your cruise, we send you an itemized statement which includes Insight Cruises’ contact information, California Seller of Travel registration number, and instructions on how to make a claim to the TCRC.

And while we’re at it...

Insight Cruises is licensed to sell insurance by the State of California Department of Insurance. Our License Number is 0D91804.

What does Insight Cruises’ IATAN accreditation mean to you?

IATAN (International Airlines Travel Agent Network) promotes professionalism and administers meaningful and impartial business standards to travel industry professionals. IATAN accreditation is voluntary, and means that a travel business consciously works to assure you, its customer, of its legitimacy and commitment to the travel profession.

IATAN accreditation tells you that Insight Cruises is a serious, reputable, business-like, professional seller of travel. Insight Cruises is an IATAN Travel Sales Intermediary (TSI) agency. Our IATAN number, which can be found in the IATAN database by cruise lines, airlines, and hotels worldwide, is: 05-701953.

IATAN accredited agencies must demonstrate that:

it has staff devoted to the affairs of the business, who have managerial skills and discretion

the business is a valid legal entity, and has appropriate business bank accounts

it can produce letters of reference from national or international travel industry suppliers or from national travel associations

its Website and advertisements show how customers can contact the business

it complies with relevant Federal, state, county, and local laws

in the case of Insight Cruises being based in, and serving citizens of, the State of California, that the business is a registered seller of travel

it has no pending or unresolved complaints at state or local consumer affairs office

as part of the accreditation processs, agencies must demonstrate revenue consistent with being a significant travel business.

IN GOOD COMPANY

When the Wall Street Journal did an article on “the best bets in educational cruising” (Page R7, February 3–4, 2007) their entire list was: Crystal Cruises, Smithsonian Journeys, Elderhostel, and Insight Cruises. And the WSJ is not the only one who’s hip to the best in education on the high seas! Condé Nast Traveler, in April 2008, carried the attached sidebar, listing us with National Georgraphic Expeditions and Regent Seven Seas!